A Video Ad, In a Paper Magazine 295
lee1 writes "The first-ever video advertisement will be published in a traditional paper magazine — Entertainment Weekly — in September.
The video will be displayed on slim-line screens
around the size of a mobile phone display and will have rechargeable
batteries. The associated chip can hold up to 40 minutes of video, and uses technology similar to that used in singing greeting cards, playing
the movie when the page is turned. The first clips will preview CBS
shows and advertise Pepsi, but they will only be distributed in Los Angeles and New York.
Imagine the fun hacking possibilities."
fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance... (Score:5, Insightful)
How long will it be before someone turns the page in the news paper and Jimbo from Jimbo's Used Cars and Ammo starts screaming about his amazing auto deals (free ammo with every car!) in a VERY LOUD OBNOXIOUS TONE?
Not long, that's my guess.
Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance... (Score:4, Informative)
Moreover, I'm sure that if they can make a small flexible screen, then can probably also make a small "unmute" button that allows the user to choose to listen to the ad.
Yes. With Sound. (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, there will be sound, no you can't set the volume, yes it plays with sound when you first open it, this is an advertisement after all -- they want you to attract the attention of those around you.
You should check out the Wired article [wired.com]. It has a YouTube clip.
Re:Yes. With Sound. (Score:5, Funny)
My hammer and I disagree, we can, indeed, set the volume (or at least mute it).
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This is such a great idea - far better than, I don't know, moving the whole newspaper online or onto an ebook reader.
Oh wait, the opposite of that.
Oh good - sound in a novelty item... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance... (Score:4, Informative)
I searched in vain for anything in the article that says something about sound.
It does have sound. It this video posted by another commenter below, you can see the speaker at the 1:02 minute mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7GErbdNRrE [youtube.com]
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* Flips open magazine *
Hello, you have been selected to win a free ipod!
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How long will it be before someone turns the page in the news paper and Jimbo from Jimbo's Used Cars and Ammo starts screaming about his amazing auto deals (free ammo with every car!) in a VERY LOUD OBNOXIOUS TONE?
No need for Flashblock, just read with a hammer next to you.
Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance... (Score:5, Funny)
The only problem is that, at least in my experience, when I'm sitting down reading and spontaneously start pounding my lap with a hammer everyone looks at me like I've lost my mind. Anyone else have this problem?
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"Jimbo from Jimbo's Used Cars and Ammo starts screaming about his amazing auto deals (free ammo with every car!) "
Really? How many rounds? And what caliber? And will they take my Prius in trade?
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Yes, really. a box, of 50, 9mm, and hell no, they won't take your Commie-Liberal Hippy wagon. Are you nuts?
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Wait for Goatse to appear on those ads!
I'm stunned it didn't already happened on one of those screens at Times Square in New York. But I'll get right to it. Just a sec... ;)
Hi, I'm Darth Harrington (Score:4, Funny)
INTERGALACTIC PROTON POWERED ELECTRICAL TENTACLED ADVERTISING DROIDS
INTERGALACTIC PROTON POWERED ELECTRICAL TENTACLED ADVERTISING DROIDS
Hi, I'm Darth Harrington of Darth Harrington's Intergalactic Proton Powered Electrical Tentacled Advertising Droids Emporium and Moon Base. Due to a garbled subspace transmission, I am currently overstocked on all Intergalactic Proton Powered Electrical Tentacled Advertising Droids, and I am passing the savings onto youuuuuuu!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You make it a joke but... [timesonline.co.uk]
Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance... (Score:4, Funny)
Soon... Internet connection (Score:4, Funny)
Rechargeable batteries? (Score:2, Interesting)
So this (Score:5, Insightful)
So this is the best usage for this technology they can find? How about changing 300lb university textbooks into paper thin alternatives? Updating libraries to use this new technology, increasing the life of the books... etc etc
Ad's? How.... capitilist..
Re:So this (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So this (Score:4, Insightful)
Whens the last time you can think advertisters have footed the bill? Has the cost of your movie tickets dropped since they've introduced a half-hour of commericals into the movie theaters? Has the cost of your video games dropped since the inception of inline video game ad's?
Hardly. Relying on advertisers to lower the cost of new technology so that academia can reap its benefits is knowledge probably gained from an academic institute that is relying on advertisers to lower the cost of new technology.
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Re:So this (Score:4, Insightful)
Except print media relies on ads to pay the bills, The cost you pay tends to pay a very tiny portion of the actual cost production - most of that cost is distribution (printing, shipping to distributors, distributor markup, shipping to retailers, retailer markup, etc), which is how they can easily make subscriptions 50+% off the cover price.
In this case, the ads pay for the technology behind this. If it's successful, more advertisers would want it in more magazines, which implies that developments would make the technology cheaper. And when the technology gets cheap enough, it'll be everywhere.
Advertisers are paying for this, plus the normal ad fees. If it succeeds, it forms a demand for this technology, making it cheaper so everyone else can add video to their pages for little extra cost.
Re:So this (Score:5, Insightful)
Most new video games cost $59.99 - the same as new SNES games cost in 1994. That's another 30% drop after accounting for inflation, not to mention the hugely increased costs of development since then.
It stands to reason that if content producers can recoup some of their costs via alternative revenue models, competition will force the prices down.
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I know this is going waaay off topic, but I beg to differ that modern consumer equipment must be unrepairable.
Oh, I grant you that it is, and that is also something frustrating to me to no end. I'm just suggesting that this is by design, and that some company... if they really want to assert that they are green and not just give lip service... could design equipment to be repaired by an ordinary technician trained at a 2-year community college. Unfortunately that might take more than a simple start-up to
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Free-as-in-beer broadcast TV? Much of the free-as-in-beer content on the internet? A number of free-as-in-beer local newsweeklies? The vast majority of the cost of not-free print daily newspapers?
Re:So this (Score:5, Funny)
Best typo ever.
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Hmm, let someone else pay for your products. how....socialist
Re:So this (Score:5, Insightful)
They're the ones paying the bills. I know, how capitalistic of me. But that's the system in play.
How about changing 300lb university textbooks into paper thin alternatives? Updating libraries to use this new technology, increasing the life of the books... etc etc
Fantastic ideas. How soon can we expect for you to get the betas out? The great thing about capitalism is that if think this is a good idea for the technology you can make a play at being one of the first ones to market with the product. Why are you waiting for someone else to take up the cause? If you're waiting for the government to take the lead, which I'm guessing you are by slighting capitalism, you are going to have a long wait.
Capitalism has a really cruddy underside because someone has to lose for someone else to win but it's also this same reason that people step up to challenges such as this. Having an incentive to produce has worked out pretty well. You can still champion the idea if you want to do it for "ethical" reasons and give your profits away. No one is stopping you.
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I'm merely making social commentary. I don't wait for the government for anything, and do my own amount of volunteer work around the community. But be rest assured, that if I had the brain capable of inventing a device, good or process of some sort that either
A) benefited the large group of people for free
B) Made me disgustingly rich
I would choose (a). No, I've never been put in that place, and no I don't ask you to believe me.
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And being rich doesn't mean that you can't help a large group of people. There are tons of win-win situations in technology. If I need to list some for you'll I'd have to first ask you to hand in your geek card.
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Ok, lets say you did invent this particular invention in your garage.
How do you implement it in a way that will benefit a large group of people for free?
Where the heck does the money for the factory or materials come from?
Don't get me wrong, I have a part time volunteer job. If you know of a better system for moving ideas from concept to communal good, I'm all ears.
Let me know... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Let me know... (Score:5, Funny)
What's a Playboy? Is that like a Playstation?
Re:Let me know... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Let me know... (Score:4, Funny)
You'd have to be pretty experienced to last that long!
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Re:Let me know... (Score:5, Funny)
yes, but for boys too young for the playstation. It's controller is much simpler, just a joystick.
Re:Let me know... (Score:5, Funny)
Actually it's more like playing with your Wii.
Cost? (Score:4, Interesting)
Isn't this insanely expensive? I thought the return on ads was already very low. How is this going to be any better.
Re:Cost? (Score:5, Insightful)
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yea and i'll take 50 so I can get the screens and batteries to make my next Burning Man costume. Adds? I'll never see em I'll use the Mags to fuel my woodgas generator to recharge the batteries.
P.S.: please buy another 100 or so, then sell them on eBay for those of us not living in one of those two cities.
Re:Cost? (Score:5, Funny)
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I'm waiting for the lawsuits against people who resell these, hack them, etc.
When one of these ends up on a lamp-post in Brooklyn with a timer on it who will the department of homeland security waterboard? Putting electronics in the hands of terrorists is a serious charge.
Totally baseless of course because bombs don't need fancy timers and a cheap ipod device, like many manufacturers make for almost nothing, could do the same if you wanted a timer, but hey, when has law been about reason?
I've got popcorn.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Cost? (Score:5, Insightful)
I bet this is going to be a collectors item. Everybody in LA and New York will have to buy one. So, not only will EW get a huge sales boost, but there will be millions of people who are pushing, clawing, and begging just to watch the ads for their novelty. How many other ways can you get people to seek out your advertisement rather than have it forced upon them? I bet USA and Pepsi are paying through the nose for this.
Of course, the novelty aspect only works once. My guess is that we won't see this regularly until the technology becomes significantly cheaper (if even then).
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So what toxic materials are in it (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:So what toxic materials are in it (Score:5, Insightful)
And let's face it, the vast majority of the readership aren't geeks, so they won't be hacking these things.
And to hell with my karma. It's for garbage like these that I can afford to burn it.
Re:So what toxic materials are in it (Score:4, Insightful)
Article Light on Details (Score:5, Interesting)
Seems great, but TFA seems light on details that would seem to come to most peoples' minds:
FYI, here's what it does list:
Re: (Score:2)
First of all that's 70 minutes of runtime. Standby wouldn't be nearly as draining.
I have to wonder though -- presumably one reads a magazine in reasonable lighting. Couldn't the ad be solar powered, with only a small battery to make sure it wakes up when it needs to?
Mal-2
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First of all that's 70 minutes of runtime. Standby wouldn't be nearly as draining
I wouldn't expect the standby capacity of that to be much longer than the time it would take insert the device into the magazine, finish production, box up the magazine(s), and ship them to the point of sale. Can you imagine needing dozens upon dozens of USB power cords to recharge these things at your local bookseller? I'd imagine someone is paying for that kind of ridiculous service to ensure that this very expensive advertising venture delivers as promised to the target audience.
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Wait, the battery is rechargeable? If this is an ADVERTISEMENT in a paper magazine, why would you want to recharge it beyond the novelty? What good is this...
Because if they didn't include a rechargeable battery then you would complain that "The damned thing doesn't even have a rechargeable battery! What good is this..."
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So don't expect to buy one off the shelf.
Hi, this is... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hi, this is... (Score:5, Funny)
It is believed that... (Score:5, Insightful)
Best line I've read all day.
"It's believed the new technology will cost much more than normal print ads."
That's the kind of biting, insightful comment I love from big media.
The key question (Score:5, Funny)
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Every time I see "320x240" as a resolution I think "Doom!"
Very effective in at least one area (Score:4, Funny)
1. Average Joe gets/reads/disposes of newspaper
2. Batteries get dumped along with newspaper
3. ???
4. Profit!
Looks like I WILL get my D.Ev after all!
You know, (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You're kidding, right?
The answer is: no, not to any appreciable degree.
You do know what happens to all those 9V, AA, and AAA batteries you see in grocery stores after people use them up, right? How about the batteries in laptops? Yeah, that's right: the average person throws them away. As in, in the landfill.
If they don't throw them away when they die, they throw them in the trash when they're doing some housecleaning or getting ready to move. Even in the locations where recycling batteries is possible and
I don't know if this is the product but... (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7GErbdNRrE
and they wonder why... (Score:4, Insightful)
Or maybe they would... (Score:5, Insightful)
The crisis in the newspaper industry:
a) They're all giving away their content for free on the internet, print subscriptions are falling through the floor.
b) No single paper can charge internet subscriptions, because people will just turn to other papers.
c) Web ad revenue brings in less money than print ad revenue used to.
d) Craig's List has completely destroyed the lucrative classified ads revenue source.
So basically, they haven't found a way to make enough money to do the journalism that we expect from them. The whole industry is sinking, from the best of them to the worst.
Sell content as? You mean re-license Reuters? (Score:3, Interesting)
Man I am sure a Perl or even more advanced Haskell etc. genious can code today's mainstream newspaper generator easily. Just add couple of leftist/rightist/shadowy columnists who writes no better than your IRC bot, all you need is a A3 printer to go.
I really think it should be done, just to show how worthless they have become internationally, yes, ALL newspapers except always lower selling intellectual types can be generated dynamically. You can even add some sort of "evil layout AI" to promote/demote stori
Rip to DivX? (Score:2, Funny)
Harry Potter (Score:2)
was first
but really this direction just seems like it is destined to fail because of cost and the lack of people already buying physical things to read.
Yeah (Score:2)
Just wondering, will the mags also be equipped with AdBlock??
Youtube video of the product... (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7GErbdNRrE [youtube.com]
That looks awfully bulky for a magazine insert...
Maybe it'd work as a standalone advertising pamphlet for some expensive toy... But as a magazine insert?
Yeah, I understand that folks will run out and buy this magazine just for the advertisement. Just for the novelty. But... The thing depicted in that video is easily as thick as a magazine.
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Agreed. This isn't "video in print", this is "we've taken your typical hardcover book and put a ridiculously small screen with a bad interface inside it. Other content, what other content?"
If I a device like the one shown in the youtube vid, I'll just take one that's not bound in cardboard, thanks.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Okay, the Geek in me wants to take the YouTube Video of this thing, and put it ON this thing, make a video Youtube of the new video on the thing, and then video that and put it on it and then get a video of that, and put it on it ....
Yeah. (Score:3)
...and will have rechargeable batteries.
In case you want to watch the commercials over and over again.
Good morning Jim (Score:2)
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Oh great, so my magazine is going to burst into flames at the end of the ad.
Wasn't this done like two years ago? (Score:2)
First? I swear I read a /. article quite a while ago about this exact same thing... It was the cover of some magazine.
Recycling...? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
So now, not only can I not toss the magazine into recycling without a thought, but in many municipalities it will be a crime to even throw it in the regular trash due to the electronics. Thanks Hollywood!
But it's ROHS compliant!
Oh Yeah? (Score:2)
Any interesting Esquire e-ink hacks (Score:5, Interesting)
Google tells me it was possible but I didn't find any interesting projects.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
AFAIK that cover was fixed areas, kinda like those old LCD games, or a 7-segment display, etc. You can only turn areas on and off, it wasn't a pixel-based display.
Re:Any interesting Esquire e-ink hacks (Score:4, Informative)
It couldn't be repurposed. It was a fixed layout Eink design. Nothing more than an overglorified LCD style animation, similar to those in the Tiger Electronics and Game & Watch systems. Portions became dark, those portions became light. The screen itself couldn't have been salvaged for anything because while it was Eink, it wasn't the kind of Eink that many people hoped it would be (individual granules acting as pixels.)
Esquire magazine (Score:2)
Meh... (Score:2)
Is there a point to this? (Score:2)
Waste of resources (Score:4, Insightful)
How long until ... (Score:3, Interesting)
[queue article about malware distributing video magazine ad in 3...2...1...]
Entertainment Weekly (Score:3, Interesting)
I hate these asshole spammers. I started getting their crap about a year ago. Every damn week, one of these things. I rent a mailbox and only check it about once a month. Now it physically fills up with their unsolicited junk mail. Fuck you, Entertainment Weekly.
I tracked down how it happened. Turns out Ticketmaster sold me out -- they're who Entertainment Weekly got my snailmail address from (and email address, that's how I caught 'em -- Entertainment Weekly sent spam to tm@example.com). So: fuck you too, Ticketmaster. You'll never hear from me again.
Don't like it but want the magazine? Easily done! (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously though, if it's possible to erase the ad content and use the mini-player for other video, I think I (and at least half of
I can see it now... annoying, loud, obnoxious. (Score:3, Insightful)
Imagine this: A person is quietly reading a magazine in a quiet and peaceful room. Suddenly, as he flips the page, a video advertisement is played, displaying the Pepsi logo, filling the room with a low-quality, low-bitrate sound of the Pepsi jingle so loud everyone in the room turns and looks at him. And, guess what? NO WAY TO STOP THE DAMN AD!
Come September, this will be a reality.
First TV ads got louder and louder and annoyed the shit out of me to the point where I can't even watch TV anymore. Then Internet ads did the same. Now fucking paper ads will annoy me.
I, for one, will not purchase a product whose developers chose to advertise in this manner, nor will I purchase magazines that have these ads. Fuck you, spammers!
The great thing about this.. (Score:4, Interesting)
novel idea (Score:4, Insightful)
The more ads I see, the more I get pissed at advertisement in general.
I have a truly novel idea. Maybe I should patent it. How about we charge for the actual content, save a lot of money on all the staff and equipment that doesn't have to negotiate, draft, implement, print, etc. all the advertisement anymore, and end up with a smaller, more content-dense product? I'll call it "business purpose re-engineering".
You see, when your business has slowly eroded from informing your customers to selling your customers, and your customers have started to notice and are leaving you in droves, it might be time to change back, instead of speeding up.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Are you ready to pay $15-$20 (or more) for an issue that used to cost you $6, purely for the privilege of not having ads?
Yes
Do you think >90% of consumers are?
No.
But if you want my money, you play by my rules. That other 90% market is pretty much saturated anyways. So why not get a large share of the 10% market, instead of a tiny share of the 90% market? Your overal market share may end up to be higher.
But, of course, in this time of hyper-capitalism, nobody is happy with owning a factory or a shop or selling to a specific audience anymore. It's got to be international corporations, franchises and chains and when it comes to market, the key word is "dominatin